London: It is very easy to find fault from a comfortable chair that is socially distant from Westminster. Although this reporter is constantly looking for favourable signs that the government is managing the Corona crisis efficiently, there are also signs that it is not. Alas, some of the inconsistencies in government remarks and reporting are fuelling conspiracy theories and providing left-wing narratives an advantage. Below are a few examples of current issues that could invite a warped interpretation:
We are permanently reminded about the woeful lack of essential protective and respiratory equipment in UK by the prompt shipments of PPE from Taiwan, Egypt and Turkey, this will hopefully mean medical staff will not have to wash and reuse their PPE; the receipt of 2.8million packets of paracetamol from India were gratefully received by pharmacists and supermarkets but without thanks from the Foreign Office.
The catastrophic morning TV exchanges between the broadcaster Piers Morgan and Conservative Ministers, who appear to have no idea of the tragic number of nurses and doctors who have died of Covid-19, at the time of writing 60 are known. Like many public institutions the British Medical Association is headed by left-leaning experts, this manifests in the doctors trotted out by the BBC, Sky and ITV to spread a defeatist narrative of failure.
Comparisons with Germany’s effective management of the Corona outbreak with mass scale testing and relatively few deaths against UK’s disunited scientific commentary, and Angela Merkel’s scientific understanding helps her communications with the German people. The Director of the Wellcome Institute Sir Jeremy Farrar said UK could learn lessons from Germany, and suggested UK might have the highest number of Covid-19 death cases in Europe.
The glaring discrepancy between what Health Minister Matt Hancock reports on the number of tests performed and what a miscellany of others claim; not to mention Hancock’s contradictions about herd immunity, is it an aim, a goal or a strategy or not, and exactly what is the difference? Perhaps the difference is how it is achieved, by design or de-fault or a hybrid of the two. The fatality figures published the Office of National Statistics are different than those given by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), there are valid reasons for this such as the time the death occurred and the time it was reported, nevertheless the differences cause confusion. Hancock awarded care workers a badge that enabled priority shopping access. The DHSC is reviewing why the Black and Asian population are disproportionately affected by Covid-19, an early analysis might suggest ethnicity population densities in certain urban areas or co-morbidities such as diabetes, obesity and ischemic heart conditions; the 5 health trusts in England that recorded the most deaths so far cover areas with some of the densest south Asian and Black populations.
Regarding the proposed 7 Nightingale hospitals, Birmingham and London are finished but reportedly have thousands of spare beds, a Daily Mail report claimed the London ExCeL only had 19 patients over Easter weekend. Dr Max Pemberton asked why Covid-19 patients are not gathered there, to allow other hospitals to treat patients with other serious illnesses. Robert Peston political editor of ITV, discovered that Nightingale ExCeL was not really for seriously ill patients likely to die, essentially it is for less complicated and younger patients with expectations of a short recovery. Attendance at A&E’s across England is down almost 50% as seriously ill people have battened down and are afraid of the Coronavirus, government medical advisors pleaded with them to come forward as the NHS has capacity to treat them.
Curiously a decision to scan arrivals at Heathrow was never taken, throughout the lockdown up to 15,000 passengers are entering UK daily with no measures taken to test or quarantine them. Airport staff have complained they do not have protection to do their jobs safely. This week Romanian farm workers arrived at Stanstead from Bucharest to pick fruit and vegetables for UK growers.
Professor Neil Ferguson from Imperial College and one of government’s key advisors, said community surveillance- testing- contact tracing and some social isolation will be necessary indefinitely until a vaccine is developed, possibly in mid-2021. The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found a scenario for a one-year programme of social distancing and protecting the most vulnerable, plus periodic ‘lockdowns’ with stricter measures (as now), will have the potential to keep NHS capacities from being exceeded until a vaccine is available. The official message is when fewer people in the community have the infection, and transmission is reduced and stays below R-1 policy makers can then make decisions about relaxing the lockdown.
Government reticence/inability to answer questions about the next stage of the lockdown is ubiquitous and the lack of reasoning is beginning to irritate people, who are both fearful of catching the disease and of being cooped up for much longer. Ministers at the Briefing revert to script when probed further rather than improvise an honest answer, this draws attention to the weaknesses in the cabinet.
Some of the more ludicrous conspiracies vented have been that Boris Johnson was exclusively given hydroxychloroquine to hasten his recovery, or perhaps he was not actually in St Thomas’ hospital at all! The rumour that 5G radio waves spread Covid-19 by reducing immunity levels and this activated the virus unfortunately led to EE masts being set on fire.
The media is stirring it up with “gotcha” journalism, political journalists are asking medical questions and then not accepting the answers given by the medical experts. A new poll by Kekst CNC reported since the Corona crisis began confidence in the UK media has fallen by a 21% net loss.
David Frost EU advisor and negotiator is preparing for the next round of virtual talks with his EU counterpart Michel Barnier. Frost is determined that the transition period ends on 31st December and the UK will not ask for an extension. IMF’s Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, suggested a way to avoid further economic uncertainty was an extension to the transition period. Following this Frost said if the EU asks for an extension the UK will not agree to it, if terms are not agreed by the summit intended for June it is likely to be a return to WTO terms.
We are permanently reminded about the woeful lack of essential protective and respiratory equipment in UK by the prompt shipments of PPE from Taiwan, Egypt and Turkey, this will hopefully mean medical staff will not have to wash and reuse their PPE; the receipt of 2.8million packets of paracetamol from India were gratefully received by pharmacists and supermarkets but without thanks from the Foreign Office.
The catastrophic morning TV exchanges between the broadcaster Piers Morgan and Conservative Ministers, who appear to have no idea of the tragic number of nurses and doctors who have died of Covid-19, at the time of writing 60 are known. Like many public institutions the British Medical Association is headed by left-leaning experts, this manifests in the doctors trotted out by the BBC, Sky and ITV to spread a defeatist narrative of failure.
Comparisons with Germany’s effective management of the Corona outbreak with mass scale testing and relatively few deaths against UK’s disunited scientific commentary, and Angela Merkel’s scientific understanding helps her communications with the German people. The Director of the Wellcome Institute Sir Jeremy Farrar said UK could learn lessons from Germany, and suggested UK might have the highest number of Covid-19 death cases in Europe.
The glaring discrepancy between what Health Minister Matt Hancock reports on the number of tests performed and what a miscellany of others claim; not to mention Hancock’s contradictions about herd immunity, is it an aim, a goal or a strategy or not, and exactly what is the difference? Perhaps the difference is how it is achieved, by design or de-fault or a hybrid of the two. The fatality figures published the Office of National Statistics are different than those given by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), there are valid reasons for this such as the time the death occurred and the time it was reported, nevertheless the differences cause confusion. Hancock awarded care workers a badge that enabled priority shopping access. The DHSC is reviewing why the Black and Asian population are disproportionately affected by Covid-19, an early analysis might suggest ethnicity population densities in certain urban areas or co-morbidities such as diabetes, obesity and ischemic heart conditions; the 5 health trusts in England that recorded the most deaths so far cover areas with some of the densest south Asian and Black populations.
Regarding the proposed 7 Nightingale hospitals, Birmingham and London are finished but reportedly have thousands of spare beds, a Daily Mail report claimed the London ExCeL only had 19 patients over Easter weekend. Dr Max Pemberton asked why Covid-19 patients are not gathered there, to allow other hospitals to treat patients with other serious illnesses. Robert Peston political editor of ITV, discovered that Nightingale ExCeL was not really for seriously ill patients likely to die, essentially it is for less complicated and younger patients with expectations of a short recovery. Attendance at A&E’s across England is down almost 50% as seriously ill people have battened down and are afraid of the Coronavirus, government medical advisors pleaded with them to come forward as the NHS has capacity to treat them.
Curiously a decision to scan arrivals at Heathrow was never taken, throughout the lockdown up to 15,000 passengers are entering UK daily with no measures taken to test or quarantine them. Airport staff have complained they do not have protection to do their jobs safely. This week Romanian farm workers arrived at Stanstead from Bucharest to pick fruit and vegetables for UK growers.
Professor Neil Ferguson from Imperial College and one of government’s key advisors, said community surveillance- testing- contact tracing and some social isolation will be necessary indefinitely until a vaccine is developed, possibly in mid-2021. The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found a scenario for a one-year programme of social distancing and protecting the most vulnerable, plus periodic ‘lockdowns’ with stricter measures (as now), will have the potential to keep NHS capacities from being exceeded until a vaccine is available. The official message is when fewer people in the community have the infection, and transmission is reduced and stays below R-1 policy makers can then make decisions about relaxing the lockdown.
Government reticence/inability to answer questions about the next stage of the lockdown is ubiquitous and the lack of reasoning is beginning to irritate people, who are both fearful of catching the disease and of being cooped up for much longer. Ministers at the Briefing revert to script when probed further rather than improvise an honest answer, this draws attention to the weaknesses in the cabinet.
Some of the more ludicrous conspiracies vented have been that Boris Johnson was exclusively given hydroxychloroquine to hasten his recovery, or perhaps he was not actually in St Thomas’ hospital at all! The rumour that 5G radio waves spread Covid-19 by reducing immunity levels and this activated the virus unfortunately led to EE masts being set on fire.
The media is stirring it up with “gotcha” journalism, political journalists are asking medical questions and then not accepting the answers given by the medical experts. A new poll by Kekst CNC reported since the Corona crisis began confidence in the UK media has fallen by a 21% net loss.
David Frost EU advisor and negotiator is preparing for the next round of virtual talks with his EU counterpart Michel Barnier. Frost is determined that the transition period ends on 31st December and the UK will not ask for an extension. IMF’s Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, suggested a way to avoid further economic uncertainty was an extension to the transition period. Following this Frost said if the EU asks for an extension the UK will not agree to it, if terms are not agreed by the summit intended for June it is likely to be a return to WTO terms.
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